digitalLEARNING-June-2011-[19-22]-Lab in Box

policy matter

Lab in Box

The Lab-in-Box was inaugurated by Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister HRD on February 2, 2011

By Pragya Gupta, digital LEARNING Bureau

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CERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) has initiated Lab-in-box project for creating ready to roll out computer labs in shipping containers to cut down the time to roll out ICT infrastructure in remote schools in India. As part of the national project on Universal Primary Education (Sarva Siksha Abhiyan) as well as under the ICT@school scheme, government has been rolling out computers to government aided and rural schools. However, the schools are normally not ready with a computer lab room and usually have classrooms that are not suitable to be used as a computer lab. By the time the school is able to get the funds for the civil works for the computer lab, the computers become outdated or get spoilt. Also, in the process, a

few students finish their schools without being able to get access to the computers. Hence CIET and HP jointly explored the novel concept of setting up computer labs in a shipping container and sending out the entire lab at one go. This provides the schools with a quick, water-proof, ready to use ICT infrastructure that can be used from day one. Also, schools face many other problems such as lack of electricity and connectivity. The Lab-inbox concept has a diesel generator set for electricity and has VSAT connectivity for Internet through ISRO’s Edusat satellite.

Moreover, remote schools find it difficult to get the latest textbooks. The Lab-inbox will come with a printer. It is a compact self sustained, readymade structure equipped with all the resources required by a school for an ICT enabled classroom

without any infrastructural constraint.

The Lab-in-Box was inaugurated by Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister Human Resource Development (HRD) on February 2, 2011. Kapil Sibal, Honorable Minister of HRD and Communications and Information Technology, said, “What we have here is an excellent example of aligning technology innovation to meet the social and educational challenges we face in the country, using a very unique and modular approach that is sustainable and cost-effective.

It’s a commendable venture by HP. This is a powerful collaboration between NCERT, a national council that has been focused on advancing the quality of school education in India for the last 50 years, and HP, a world leading technology innovator.” digitalLEARNING / june 2011

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policy matter

academia’s perspective Vasudha Kamat, Former Joint Director, CIET and current Vice Chancellor, SNDT Womens University speaks about NCERT’s ‘Lab in Box’ initiative. Excerpts

What does NCERT want to achieve through the Lab in Box initiative?

ICT integration in schools is a major challenge. How do teachers integrate the ICTs in their day-to-day teaching is one of the important things to address. By creating this facility, CIET, NCERT plans to explore the way teachers shall use ICTs, (to create and share knowledge resources) and use them in classroom interaction. We plan to invite teachers from state governments and municipal schools in Delhi (in the vicinity of NCERT) to use this facility.

Secondly, we wish to explore how students use these facilities. The lab-in-box has five servers and 15 clients along with five touch screens. We plan to invite school students to use this facility created in the lab-in-box and study their use by the students. The systems have free and open source software (FOSS) only and it will also be a good opportunity to observe how students use them.

Another area of study will be how students like to work in this Lab-in-box environment.

How will this initiative facilitate school education in the country?

What is the target segment and target area of the concept?

NCERT is planning to extend this experiment to our Regional Institutes of Education (RIEs) where a school is attached

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to RIE on the campus. School students from these schools will enrich our understanding about student use of ICT labs which are well equipped with FOSS, with thin client system and also with broadband connectivity. The learning from this experiment will help support Government initiative of creating ICT infrastructure in schools under ICT@ School scheme.

We wish to work closely with three groups of stakeholders in school sector: One is students, second is teachers and third is principals/planners/decision makers in school sector. Purpose of involving each of these groups is specific.

How HP Lab in a Box solution will help NCERT in universalising education and help implement more creative, sustainable and inclusive model of education?

It is a novel solution to the problem of introducing students to ICT tools to get global. Students love to explore the new technology and the lab in box just provides them that opportunity. Imagine an elementary school in a rural area where students drop out due to noninteresting learning environment. This box will open up a new world before them through which they can get connected to the whole world outside.

We need to involve teachers in this novel experiment who could help students in proper way.

The process of learning will become more innovative, explorative and access to internet will bring in many answers to students questions, but will also enthuse them to ask many more questions to solve the riddles of life around them like why does the tree sheds all leaves in summer, why the chameleon changes its colour, how energy gets transformed and so on.

They can learn to paint, to create new models, to identify stars in the sky with

the help of interactive sky atlas, trace the satellites, prepare a map of their village and get involved in many other interesting activities and projects.

Girls, boys, special needs children all could be involved in using this facility. Lot of relevant resources (Audio books for visually impaired children, visually sound films for deaf students, and so on).

When would the prototype be implemented? How accessible and cost effective the “Lab-inbox” concept will be?

We have invited students and teachers from nearby schools to this lab. Meanwhile CIET is also working on the plans for implementation.

NCERT (various departments and Institutions) conducts many programmes involving experts (teachers, teacher educators, SCERT/XIE functionaries) and as such they visit NCERT. CIET invites them to visit the lab-in-box facility which is a novel concept for them.

Discussions with these experts, visitors help in shaping the plan further.

I think this can work out to be a cost effective solution to computer lab in the school. This has enough space for 15 computers and also a table, board for teacher. It can also be fitted with Projector which can be used for presentation both by students and teachers. It also has small magazine stands where NCERT publications, magazine for children can be made available.

What are some other initiatives that NCERT is planning for school education?

NCERT is celebrating its Golden Jubilee year (1961-2011) and as a part of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations, each constituent Institution/Department of NCERT has planned several programmes. CIET has planned three programmes:

policy matter

First is reaching 1 Million students with CIET films: CIET is reaching about 1,000 schools with 1,000 student strength in the country. We have selected two themes: Environment and Water. Under each theme, 8-10 films are identified suitable for various age groups (6 to 18 yrs) and schools are requested to show these films to their students. As a token of appreciation, CIET will send an album of 20 more programmes to schools. This will initiate/motivate students and teachers to use these resources.

Educational Technology Lecture Series: During CIET’s Silver Jubilee Year celebrations (1984-2009), CIET had conducted Educational Technology Lecture series, under which eminent Educationists, Educational Technologists, were invited to deliver lectures in 12 cities. The last lecture was delivered by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, past President of India. This year Sam Pitroda, Chairman, National Knowledge Commission has kindly consented to deliver his lecture on Open Educational Resources in School Education (to mark the inauguration of ET Lecture Series) on 29th March in CIET, NCERT. Prof. Ashok Kolaskar, Member, NKC and Vice Chancellor KIIT, Bhubaneswar (and Ex VC, Pune University) has kindly consented to deliver lecture in Kolkata in April.

International Conference on Web 2.0 Tools.

Other initiative of CIET: Online Courses: CIET offered Online Course in Action Research in Educational Technology for Teacher educators from DIETs (District Institutes of Education and training). There was a very good response. Now we have planned to offer four more online courses during the year 2011-12. One in Action Research in Educational Technology, in Educational Audio Script Writing, Educational Video Script Writing and in Educational Gaming.

To motivate students and teachers CIET has planned three Contests: Photography Contest for students (This will be third in series), Poster Contest for teachers in RTE, and third video contest for teachers.

Lab-in-Box Open New Vistas for Education

By Dheeraj Jandial, PRO, NCERT

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ew innovations have the potential towards societal transformation although these may not touch the ordinary lives and chores of the common man. These innovations therefore miss the opportunity to be in the list of exemplary ones or the one which could be described as path-breaking. God forbids, I earnestly wish that the Lab-in-Box, a research laboratory housed in a shipping container, does not figure in the list of such innovations. Lab-in-Box may not appear to be something very extraordinary but the potential it contains for dissemination of knowledge is really enormous. Verily, it is in this context one cannot but just conform to the thought that it is an idea that can change the world you live in.

Lab-in-Box, as the terminology specifies is a research laboratory housed in a shipping container (Box). The idea was conjointly developed by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and Hewlett Packard (HP).

The meeting of minds of two giants i.e.

CIET, NCERT and HP was bound to result in a productive outcome, but the productive outcome of this potential was never envisioned of.

Using a simple shipping container of the dimension 40 X 8 feet for housing 15 computers along with a multi-functional printer, an electrical generator set, wireless connectivity and built-in furniture to accommodate 15 students and one teacher is an idea, which may have never struck to our faculties, strangely.

The Lab is fully equipped, self-powered, mobile computing centre that overcomes the constraints of power, space, infrastructure and equipment challenges currently faced by schools in India.

To suit it to varying climatic conditions right from the chilly weather of Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir to the

high temperatures of Rajasthan, and hot and moist Andaman and Nicobar Islands in Indian Ocean the iron walls of the shipping container are insulated, which helps in maintaining uniform temperature inside the container. Moreover, the flexibility of the laboratory is being extended, either by bridging two or more container together or in a more aesthetic manner placing one above another, of course with an iron staircase for access is just a matter of common sense application. CIET, NCERT on its part intends to use the Lab-in-Box to demonstrate the power of interactive learning via its online syllabi and online tutorials to students and teachers through Internet. Future features of the Lab could also include technology to electronically track school drop-outs and more effectively with a simple fingerprint reader that connects to a PC in the Lab and is able to send the attendance information to a government server.

Lab-in-Box has all the scope to extend beyond the education sector. The prototype module could be tried for the health sector especially, in the emerging arena of tele-medicine for boosting research in medicine as also in saving precious lives.

As the shipping containers are spacious, robust and water-proof, they can be easily customized for variety of scenarios. The same infrastructure can be leveraged for social requirements, such as service centres and security needs.

The demonstration of Lab-in-Box reveals that it is a great opportunity and a viable alternative for the access and reach of such facilities which the rural India has dreamt of till to date. In fact, NCERT and HP were right in placing the placard atop the container as it being a tool for bridging the so called digital divide that is evidently witnessed in digitalLEARNING / june 2011

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policy matter

industry’s Perspective Sunil Dutt, Vice President, HP PSG talks about HP’s perspective on Lab in box project

increase the percentage to 30 by 2020. If we are to achieve the percentage of college going students to 30, we will need more educational infrastructure.

Access to technology using Lab-in-Box solution will play a vital role in enabling the additional need for classroom space and intelligent infrastructure, created by Government’s agenda of Vision 2020.

Please throw some light on HP’s tie-up with NCERT for ‘Lab in Box’ project?

HP announced the Lab-in-Box, commonly known as Tatkal Kaksha initiative with the NCERT to bring mobile computing resources to remote and urban schools in India.

NCERT, which reaches 201 million students each year through its television, radio programs and textbooks, finds it a very potent tool to demonstrate interactive learning via its online syllabi and tutorials for students and teachers and master trainers across India.

How will it help the government to accomplish the mission by 2020?

The Government of India has announced 2010-20 as the decade of innovation, thus creating a demand for affordable ICT tools and techniques that need to be integrated into classroom instructions right from the primary stage so as to enable students to develop their requisite skills.

Currently only 12.4 per cent of the total 220 million school going children reach college and government aims to

the polarities of rural and urban India.

Another, positive outcome of the Labin-Box is blend of partnership among the NCERT, though autonomous with a private player Hewlett Packard (HP).

However, this should not in any way create a misconception since the fruits yielded by dissemination of education would be relished by one and all. More

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Centres, Instant Primary Health Centres, Connected Public Distribution systems, Connected Police Check posts, Instantly Deployable Army Outposts.

Through this pioneering initiative HP is aiming to address the issues of the underserved community.

What other challenges does the solution address?

The Lab-in-Box does not just address the educational challenges. Since this concept eases the cumbersome process of setting up an infrastructure which otherwise involves very high costs in terms of building materials, municipality permits, electricity, phased approvals and connectivity issues, it is being considered as a “Cloud connected Tatkal Social Infrastructure” to meet the instant-on smart infrastructural requirement for Rural Service Delivery

What are your plans to further penetrate Lab-in- Box solution in the education vertical?

Making quality education available to all is the key governing idea of this innovation.

The solution will help in expanding educational opportunities to far-flung populations, with more and more Indian children getting access to truly immersive learning via the power of technology by printing of latest textbooks, tracking of school drop-out rate, basic IT education to the students; by providing a ready to use computer lab. With Multi-seat technology, processing power of one computer can be shared to give computing experience to five students. Thus, it is most economical solution for spreading ICT education in India. This is an excellent example of aligning technology innovation to meet the social and educational challenges we face in the country, using a very unique and modular approach that is sustainable and cost-effective and hence can be extended as a solution for distance learning education, infrastructure for vocational training programs and training the ex-servicemen on entrepreneur skills.

so, education is not the only onerous responsibility of the government. It is an area in which each one of us has our own self-interest for the dividend knowledge yields, which amply gets reflected in the prosperity and progress education ensures to society at large.

Many of us could be critical of the potential that Lab-in-Box holds in fulfilling

the agenda of inclusive education. But then one must always remember that the goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done. Education should strive to build men who are creative, inventive and imaginative and not the stuff that accepts gladly whatever is offered on a platter. \\

What are the constraints in the adoption of these education technologies?

Fear of unknown, complexity of the technology and its availability, are amongst the few major barriers in the adoption of technology. The simplicity and rapid deployment of “Tatkal Kaksha” solution, through interactive and easy access to learning, overcomes the constraints generally associated with adoption of any new education technology.